The Petite Sirah Grape

(Synonyms: Dure, Duret, Durif, Fourchue, Gros Noir, Petite Syrah, Pinot de l’Hermitage, Pinot de Romans, Plant Durif, Serine des Mauves, Sirane)

Background

Petite Sirah is a red-wine grape originating in relatively modern times (the 1860s) as a cross between the grape types Peloursin and Syrah (with which Petite Sirah should not be confused). The grape is commonly known outside the U.S. as the Durif, from the name of the botanist who created it, François Durif. The grape is today not much grown outside of the U.S. and Australia; almost none is grown in its native France, where it is a disdained type.

In its early days, Petite Sirah wine was chiefly produced by a few wineries in California’s Livermore Valley, and had a reputation as a huge, dense, inky, profoundly tannic monster. More modern renditions, giving the grape some respect and care, have produced palatable wines of less brute force, but the type is still marked by the qualities of a very dark “squid-ink” coloration, medium to dense body, fairly high acidity, dark-fruit flavors (plum, blueberry), and above all the characteristic “black pepper” nose and flavor overtone. It is not a subtle wine, but is useful whenever a strong red is wanted.

Because most plantings were in the era when winemaking in the U.S. mainly wanted economical bulk production for jug “Burgundy”, most of the vineyards containing Petite Sirah were and often still are planted with other varieties intermixed (a so-called “field blend”), and it is probable that most wine sold as Petite Sirah is actually some sort of blend impossible to exactly sort out. (Typical admixture types would be Alicante Bouschet, Carignan, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Peloursin, Béclan, and Zinfandel.) Nonetheless, by now—because many of those old vineyards were torn out while Petite Sirah was in eclipse—most “Petite Sirah” from California is wholly or very largely monovarietal.

Petite Sirah takes well to oak-barrel aging, which can import a “chocolate-y” quality to it. Also, Petite Sirah being, as noted, highly tannic, can age for long periods, even decades. Not a few say that while the latest efforts are drinkable and pleasing now, a minimum of one decade, and ideally two or three, will much improve them.

Some Descriptions of Petite Sirah Wines

Wikipedia
“Petite Sirah produces dark, inky colored wines that are relatively acidic, with firm texture and mouth feel; the bouquet has herbal and black pepper overtones, and typically offers flavors of blue fruit, black fruit, plums, and especially blueberries. Compared to Syrah, the wine is noticeably more dark and purplish in color, and typically rounder and fuller in the mouth, and offers a brightness that Syrah lacks. The wines are very tannic, with aging ability that can exceed 20 years in the bottle. Petite Sirah can sometimes be rather ‘short’, that is, the flavor does not linger in the mouth, hence the benefit of blending with another grape which may lack mid-palate depth, but add length and elegance.”
Professional Friends of Wine
“Petite Sirah has long been an important blending grape, prized primarily for its deep color and fairly intense tannin. It is the variety most often chosen to blend into zinfandel for added complexity, structure, and to tone down the tendency of zins toward ‘jammy’ fruit. As a base wine or stand-alone varietal, vintners often introduce a small portion of white wine into Petite Sirah to calm the intensity with little effect on color. On its own, the appeal of Petite Sirah is more visceral than specifically-flavored. Usually high in pigment and tannin, young wines may show dark berry and plum fruit characteristics. On poor soils, when severely pruned and fully ripened, some black pepper spice may add to typical full body and meaty density. Mostly Petite Sirah can be described as ‘vinous’ and, although agreeable, pleasant, and sometimes delicious, not highly distinctive. Nevertheless, wines made from Petite Sirah age slowly and can survive fairly long cellaring of ten years or more.”
Wine Searcher
“The high tannins and acidity present in Petite Sirah make it an excellent candidate for ageing. Primary flavors often associated with the wine are blackberry, chocolate and black pepper. Many other characteristics of Syrah can also be noted, like blueberry, licorice and various herbal elements.”
Jason Wilson, Washington Post
“Certainly the classic taste of tooth-staining, tannic petite sirah isn’t for everyone, but fans like me appreciate the deep, rich flavors and aromas of blueberry, spice, chocolate and sometimes even cedar or eucalyptus, markedly different from American zinfandel and cabernet sauvignon. Mark Oldman, in his Oldman’s Brave New World of Wine, calls petite sirah ‘dark and intense as a dominatrix’s boot.’ Even one of the producers…calls it ‘blueberry motor oil’ on its bottle and warns drinkers, ‘Don’t spill it on your shirt.’”
Appellation America
“Its small berries, and consequently high skin-to-juice ratio, allow Petite Sirah to produce wines with high tannin levels, surprisingly high acidity, and thus the ability to age. Characteristically, these wines have dense blackberry fruit character, mixed with black pepper notes…By any name, this variety has the ability to create rich, age worthy reds and is reestablishing itself as one California’s great grapes.”
The Wine Cellar Insider
“Petite Sirah is one of the biggest, most powerful and tannic wines produced in America. Until the early 1960′s, Petite Sirah was one of the most popular grape varieties planted in California, or at least in the Napa Valley. Since that point in time, it’s fallen from favor, while the popularity of Cabernet Sauvignon continues to grow. However, over the past decade or so, there has been a resurgence in the popularity of Petite Sirah in California as plantings have continued to increase. Petite Sirah can age for decades. In fact, it often demands 2 decades or more of cellaring before it becomes civilized and fun to drink. I’ve had 40 year old bottles that were fresh, concentrated and vibrant…Today, several California producers make wines from 100% Petite Sirah while others use it as a blending grape with Zinfandel or Syrah. When blended, Petite Sirah adds structure, color and a tannic backbone. It can also help to reduce the overripe, jammy character often found in Zinfandel. Like many grape varietals, Petite Sirah is best when the fruit comes from old vines…Petite Sirah produces inky dark, purple colored wines that offer flavors of black pepper, blackberries, blueberries, spice and licorice…Petite Sirah wines are often, massive, intense, chewy, masculine wines that when they are young, provide massive amounts of tannin and high levels of acidity.”
Stacy Slinkard, about.com
“Petite Sirah produces some tannic red wines that give it an aging edge. The fruit character of a Petite Sirah center arround blackberry, black cherry, blueberry, plum and sometimes a smoky component and often a black pepper presence. Not known for fantastic finishes, this particular varietal does not typically sustain the fruit or elegance on a long-lasting finish.”
Richard Jennings, Huffington Post
“I have tasted numerous excellent Petite bottlings, including some with 10 and 20 years of age on them that demonstrate how Petite’s typically strong acidity and tannic structure makes wonderfully ageworthy wine. Some Petites are made in a more simple, ripe, fruit forward style, with less acidity and tannin, and I personally don’t find these very interesting or varietally correct. At its best, however, Petite Sirah can produce wonderfully complex, rich, black fruited wines, often with floral, blueberry, tar, licorice and peppery dimensions, and can age into something really stellar, with rounded tannins and savory qualities, with at least five to 10 years of bottle age.”
Bill St. John, Chicago Tribune
“If winemakers can tame petite sirah’s formidable tannins, the wine can be a mouthful but in a blowsy way, ‘chewable,’ in a manner of thinking. But it’s more like liquid meat than any red wine I’ve ever come across, with a savory aroma of blackberries and spice.”
Patrick J. Comiskey, Wine and Spirits
“It begins, usually, with an old wine. Let’s say a Mount Veeder red from 1975, or a Freemark Abbey from the middle ’70s, an ’80s-era York Creek from Ridge, or a ’68 Souverain. Your expectations are modest, but without fail the wine astonishes, still full of tension and grace, giving off aromas of cedar and tanbark, dried plum and fig, the tannins fine and supple and faintly redolent of turned soil, with a savory complexity that most California 30 year olds can’t muster, and a texture that rivals great Bordeaux in its elegance, balance and length. And inevitably, the first thought is: This can’t be petite sirah…Petite sirah is one of the great legacy grapes of the Napa Valley, and yet it is a variety often dismissed by all but a few of the wine loving public. (It is unequivocally reviled by sommeliers, who seem to want to reserve a circle of hell for the wine.) It’s castigated for being in every way mono: monolithic, monochromatic, monophonic, a purple monotone of flavor supported by textures so immense, so laced with extract and tannin, that it seems like the wine equivalent of an overstuffed pillow. But that’s young petite, and what goes in as a Clydesdale can emerge as a thoroughbred. The wine’s transformative properties have compelled a handful of young winemakers to devote time and creative energy toward making petite sirahs with the grace and longevity of their forebears, even as they endeavor to make these famously massive wines more accessible and dynamic in their youth.”

Some Petite Sirahs to Try

For a Splurge

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This page was last modified on Saturday, 30 October 2021, at 11:26 pm Pacific Time.

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